Emotional impact of cost of living

[Lovelent23]

I know this gets touched on in many posts,which has greatly helped me in the past, but it felt a bit like a gut punch earlier when sorting out our month's money.
We're smack bang in the middle of income for our household type: we can manage our mortgage, bills, but can't save every month, and the jiggling and limits, compared to what we could do three plus years ago is draining and frustrating.
I know, and know through my job, that we are very lucky and we feel this: but feeling this level of combined negative emotions is relatively new (since the starts of our carers that is: we've done a few years of struggling at that stage). I'm not sure the implications of people on average incomes struggling,of not being able to save for when the car or washing machine breaks down, is being looked at beyond the immediate effects by the political parties: this does not feel sustainable as a country.
Any thoughts on how to better cope with the emotional impact (am already counting blessings, and it's only really getting to me when I do the monthly spreadsheet ) welcome. As are other's thoughts on the emotional side of all this, and how it's likely to develop in the next 1-5 years.

Can you get your DH to do the spreadsheet instead?

What do you mean by it not being 'looked at'? By whom?

Struggling and not being able to save has been the norm for many families for years

I'm better at money management , and it's just one of my bits of household tasks.

I absolutely know saving has not been possible for many: but what I mean by needs looking at by political parties is the lack/lessening of this ability to save/have more or any disposable income reaching up the income scale. That surely must have an impact on society in a fundamental way?

Not sure why it needs 'looking at' now though? Why now and never before?

I would think the priority is the families struggling to eat or heat rather than those like yourself who find they can't save as much?

I agree with you OP. I think middle earners having less disposable income is going to have a hugely detrimental effect on the economy. Cafes, beauticians and other businesses large and small are going to suffer and possibly go out of business. I'm reasonably comfortable but I'm definitely being more careful with money now.

When are businesses going to realise that people just simply don’t have the money. Our EON bill is going up by 45% next month!! Our water bill recently went up by 32% and our mobile bill went up by 14%. I could go on. Due to a house move, we’ve got around £1k a month less as a household yet our monthly wage has only increased by about £100 😢 😢

Interesting point. My disposable income is currently minimal. No major stress but my regular beauty appointments, massages, lunches out, coffees etc are all a thing of the past. Likewise occasional cleaning. Not a big problem for me personally, but the effect on these businesses when multiplied across the population is surely going to be considerable.

I did say I know we are luckier than half the population by stating we're average for our household type. Also, absolutely the immediate effects for people struggling with food, housing, and heat needs immediate help: but that's missing the wider point of what I'm saying. If less people feel "comfortable", if less people have financial resilience,if more national spending needs to be spent trying to help people (many who are working full/near to full time) put enough food on the table or heat in their house, then that is going to have an impact (potentially significant?), On a societal and personal level.
In terms of solutions, the fact that people working full time need benefits to have what's seen as a livable income, is such a glaring condemnation of the corporate welfare of subsidizing insufficient wages that I think that must be one of the solvable problems to deal with these changes in the longer term.
But I recognise that that's only one strand of what is likely to be a multifaceted answer.

Absolutely this, smaller independent businesses will slowly disappear.
Energy companies and supermarkets will carry on as usual with no loss in profits whatsoever.
Not sure who is going to prop up the unemployed skilled individuals coming from failed businesses.

"the fact that people working full time need benefits to have what's seen as a livable income"

The whole system is demorialising and demotivating. I can understand why people don't want to work if they're going to end up with nothing anyway and need to claim benefits then they may as well be doing it sitting on their arse. I wonder if more and more people start struggling to make ends meet and give up trying altogether because everything is unattainable would the country just grind to a hault?

Completely agree, OP. I have prioritised my career over the last decade while friends went p/t. My marriage broke up but I was the main earner anyway. After 18 years of graft and several promotions I have a salary that on paper looks like something I would have dreamt of years ago - not silly money but more than 3 times what I started out on. And all to stand still. My standard of living is the same as it was then pretty much. I do have a bigger house but not ridiculously so. Still have to budget like mad, meals out, days out non-essentials of any kind have to be carefully considered and weighed up. I am very lucky compared to many but compared to the work I have put in and the extra responsibility I now have, there is nothing to show for it really. It makes me wonder if I have made the right choices.

But surely you’d be struggling a LOT more if you hadn’t got those pay increases? So it has been worth it?

I agree money doesn’t go as far as it used to though. We have a household income that we never would have thought we’d reach, and we are comfortable but the money does not equate the kind of life I thought it would when I was younger

Yes I agree. It’s changing society. Except for hairdressers and charity shops, pretty much all the shops on my local high street are closing, and I think this is a direct result of people, I would guess the majority of people where I live, being able to pay the bills but not really anything else. Even the clothes shops in my closest big town are shutting as most people seem to buy clothes from the big supermarkets. I think the government does need to consider the impact of this on people’s lives. Even swimming feels like a luxury activity where I live - but at £25 for a family of 4 it is isn’t it!? Fairly poor in the 90s we could still go once a week and the swimming ability of local children was much higher than it is now.